Bernard, drawn by a chain that your own heart
will own is difficult to break if you are a father. My daughter was on the
road to Italy with kind and true friends, who were not ashamed to feel for
a headsman's child, and who took her in order to heal the wound that had
been so unfeelingly inflicted."
"This is true!" exclaimed the Baron de Willading; "Balthazar surely says
naught but truth here!"
"This is known and allowed; crime is not always the result of cool
determination, but it comes of terror, of sudden thought, the angry mood,
the dire temptation, and a fair occasion. Though thou left'st Vevey
ignorant of Jacques Colis' departure, didst thou hear nothing of his
movements by the way?"
Balthazar changed color. There was evidently a struggle in his bosom, as
if he shrunk from making an acknowledgment that might militate against his
interests; but, glancing an eye at the guides, he recovered his proper
tone of mind, and answered firmly:
"I did. Pierre Dumont had heard the tale of my child's disgrace, and,
ignorant that I was the injured parent, he told me of the manner in which
the unhappy man had retreated from the mockery of his companions.
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